Is there a way to get gasoline/petrol out of a fuel pump that no longer has electricity running to it, short of prying up the access hatch and dropping a bucket into the underground tank?  (One book, which was published many years ago, suggested that there was some sort of hand-cranked assembly inside the pump.) Any pump capable of pumping a liquid should work to get the gas out of the tank, however some pumps would conceivably cause the gas to explode or catch fire. Many farms have manual pumped gas tanks on them, and it would be fairly easy to rig up a bicycle (or foot) powered pump to get the gas or diesel up. I'm sorry, but I don't get the point here. You aren't all that far behind start. There are cars, trucks, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, and lawn mowers everywhere. All of them have fuel in them. There are hardware stores littering the place, and most of them have portable generators. Gas pumps run on the same electricity lights do. Find a handybilly generator, do a little wiring (supplies thoughtfully arranged by utility in your friendly local hardware store), siphon some fuel for the generator from cars, and viola! the contents of the gas tanks are yours. If the hardware store is locked, well, there are lots of spare cars around. Who needs keys when there are battering rams in plenty, all self-powered? You might have more trouble getting the credit card authorized so you can _run_ the pump. This is a problem best met with a strong prybar and ingenuity. You'll have plenty of time if there's no one to answer the burglar alarms, and at least one chance to muck it up completely because most stations have at least two pump islands. Real trouble doesn't come until the gas in the tanks runs out. Yes, it will go stale. No, that won't cause a real problem. The vehicles will smoke a bit, and won't produce full power. So what? They'll get the job done, and with only a hundred or so point sources of pollution in the world, a few extra unburned hydrocarbons won't worry anybody. Priorities: Find a usable truck. Usable meaning big enough to push cars around, with a lift gate and a full tank of fuel. Collect all the portable generators available. Work on jimmying the gas station, which can also serve as temporary living quarters; there's even food there if you are careful to avoid sugar overdoses. From there, start on something more comfortable. I, personally, wouldn't bother to hunt for other people. With that large a population reduction, the likelihood that any of the small group who can stomach my company for any extended period of time are included is nil. Regards, Ric

You might have more trouble getting the credit card authorized so you can _run_ the pump. This is a problem best met with a strong prybar and ingenuity. You'll have plenty of time if there's no one to answer the burglar alarms, and at least one chance to muck it up completely because most stations have at least two pump islands. Sure, if you wanna take the risk that you would have to rewire the whole pump to bypass the authorization system.  All it takes is a prybar, a pair of bolt cutters, and a pump to get it out of the underground tank. It also depends on what your fear level is of the others that are around... Are they the gangs from Road Warrior or are they the homesteaders?  Even if you have not seen anyone in weeks, they still might be around.  Spending hours on inefficient ways of sucking gas, might get dangerous, if they started to come around. <snip